Leadership - Influence - How?
Influence - How?
Push or pull
Being a leader means influencing people. There is a range of behaviours from aggressively trying to get your own way to listening and finding a common ground on which to move forwards.
Clearly, the majority of your technique should probably lie somewhere in the middle.
On the one hand being too aggressive is likely to meet with a great deal of resistance.
At the other end some individuals may think it is weak leadership.
Basically, if you push to hard you are trying to get a result based purely on your own agenda.
At the other end of the spectrum leadership fails as you will be influenced too much by the other persons agenda.
That is, you will become a follower and not a leader.
At the aggressive end you might be persistent, over assertive, lay your agenda on the table, providing advice, always telling and giving advice.
At the other end you might be better at listening, examining a shared vision, summarising and looking for common ground.
Resistance
If your approach lies too far to the left (aggressive) then you will definitely meet resistance.
This will materialise as negative comments and behaviour.
There will be a ripple effect that will influence others in the near vicinity.
This is a good point to remember.
‘Bad news travels fast’.
Influence can be negative as well as positive.
Being a positive leader is about getting the balance right.
Using the Pareto principle we could suggest an 80 / 20 split.
Try for 20% at the aggressive end and 80% at the non aggressive end.
Feedback
If you wish to improve your leadership skills you must know how other people see you.
You must ask for appropriate feedback.
Getting comment in this fashion is common.
It can come from personal assessment, for example Myers Briggs, or the usual situation may be during a performance appraisal.
When feedback occurs during performance appraisal it is often a traumatic experience.
People are reluctant to be honest for obvious reasons.
This type of feedback is usually termed 180° feedback where it is one-to-one.
Although useful, you really need comment from a wider audience.
This would be 360°.
You need to decide who to ask.
- Your boss.
- Your team.
- Others you respect.
- New people that you work with.
Any performance appraisal whether your own or that of your team member should include not only operational aspects but leadership performance. This latter area is crucial from your perspective in maximising your own potential.
Encouraging change
When providing the feedback yourself you are also trying to modify that person’s behaviour.
They will not change unless you approach the task in a sensitive manner. Your aim will be to get the person to loosen their grip on their current reality and to try to adopt a slightly different stance.
It is this different stance that you would like them to convert to in the long term.
You will need to adopt and use a few techniques.
Listen to and take it in information. Convey that you have been paying attention by summarising what was said.
If you disagree with what is said make sure you say so. Silence can mean agreement to some.
Make sure you still respect their point of view even if you disagree keep comments on an even keel.
Question their perspective in order to better understand it and to introduce and promote alternative points of view.
Benefits of their position – what is it? Try to find out.
Negatives – what are they?
Delve more deeply into the negatives to see how they can be eliminated or minimised. This will instigate a movement of their position.
Challenge the benefits as well. Are they as good as they look? Is it a benefit for this position but may have a knock on effect elsewhere?
People may have a fear of the change itself. They may lack confidence to move their position.
Trying to understand what this may be is not easy. However, you may be able to get a little nearer by challenging the position by repeatedly asking why? This mines deeper and deeper until you get to a fundamental truth.